Rumors of Nintendo's demise have been greatly exaggerated&comma; according to recent financial report

Almost every day we hear news about how Nintendo's Wii U sales are low or how a game makes disappointing sales. With such rumors going about almost every day, one would think that Nintendo would be in the red by now. However, according to Nintendo's latest fiscal report the company is still as healthy as ever as their first party software and accessories are selling as well as they possibly can on limited hardware sales.

The Inklings cover the most turf in software sales

According to Nintendo's report, the highest selling video game in their lineup so far has been Splatoon. Over 4.06 million sales have been made (with 1.37 million in Japan alone) making it one of the strongest titles on the Wii U to date, despite being a completely new IP for Nintendo. In fact, the game has sold so many copies that it has overshadowed Pokemon completely, Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire selling a combined total of only 1.52 million copies.

9 Nintendo games that have sold over a million units include:

Splatoon - 4.06 million sales

Super Mario Maker - 3.34 million

Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer - 2.93 million

Mario Kart 8 - 2.13 million

Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire - 1.52 million

Mario Kart 7 - 1.33 million

Yoshi's Wooly World - 1.31 million

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS - 1.16 million

The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes - 1.08 million

Surprisingly, the Super Smash Bros. for Wii U did not make it into the million units sold category of the report. This was likely due to the 3DS version arriving earlier than the Wii U version, as well as the portability of the 3DS version over the Wii U one. According to the report, Nintendo is expecting Super Mario Maker and Splatoon to continue selling at a steady rate and hope that new titles such as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD will see similar success.

Amiibos are Nintendo's best friend

If the software sales aren't enough, then perhaps the amiibo sales will grab your attention. According to the report, over 20.5 million units of figure-type amiibo and 21.5 million units of the card-based amiibo were sold in the last financial year. The best news, according to the report, is that sales show no signs of slowing.

Nintendo intends to continue releasing amiibo lines in the future, so if you are a fan of the little plastic figures then you can rest assured that they won't be going away anytime soon. Well, other than off store shelves, that is.

Not winning, but certainly not losing

While these sales numbers may seem large, they are by no means extraordinary. The Witcher 3 sold over 4 million copies in its first week alone, and certainly puts Nintendo's sales into perspective. However, all things considered, Nintendo seems to be doing just fine for the time being. It's certainly nothing to be overly proud of per se, but it's enough to safely say that the company won't have to worry about any financial issues for the time being.

I think you hit the nail on the head with that Nintendo is being compared to the other consoles, instead of being measured in their own merit. People forget that the PlayStation 4 is on a record breaking pace and just because Nintendo and Xbox aren't winning the console war, doesn't neccessarily mean they are failures. Great article!

Thanks for reading, Jeff! I certainly agree that Nintendo needs to be looked at within its own little sub-section. The company isn't competing with PlayStation or Xbox, because - like it or not - they aren't a competitor for the same market.

Instead of being a competitor like Burger King and McDonalds, I would say Nintendo vs Xbox and PlayStation is closer to that of a collector figure store and a Toys R' Us.